A SCULPTURE LIKE YOU AND ME

2016 / 2017
Collaboration with Sarah Boers
Performance, ca. 25 min
De Appel Arts Centre Amsterdam, Art Rotterdam, Linköping University Sweden, Lokaal 1B

Do you own your body? Is your body an object? Or a collection of objects? Can you sculpt and sell your body parts? Do objects have any will of their own? Are you a sculpture?

Medical ethicist and general practitioner in training Sarah Boers and artist Sijben Rosa investigate the ambiguous nature of objects, and the interchangeable roles of persons and things, through a collaborative performance. Boers begins by talking about her research on organoids: a kind of miniature organ, derived in a laboratory from human stem cells. Sijben interrupts, manipulating the meaning of Boers’ words by instructing her to change position, both in relation to objects made by Sijben and to the audience present.

Suzan Drummen, visual artist and teacher: ‘I haven’t seen such a successful collaboration between an artist and a scientist before. The input of both seemed to exist autonomously next to each other, showing the full scope of their work, while it was clear that the one couldn’t exist without the other. A combination of the currently relevant text, the curious props, the repetition and the nearly self-evident dance of persons and objects created a curious experience. While at the same time, the atmosphere was remarkably relaxed.’

The project exists of two independent but complementary parts: a performance and a publication. The performance premiered at De Appel Amsterdam in June 2016, had a try-out at Lokaal 1B Amsterdam and was shown at Art Rotterdam and Linköping University Sweden. The publication was released in February 2017 within Prospects&Concepts at Art Rotterdam. The publication is a print of the texts and documentation of the objects used in the performance, plus a selection of photos from Sijben’s archive on which these objects were based.

Simone Hogendijk (artistic director Over het IJ Festival) about the publication: ‘I felt a form of involvement when reading the book, that I can imagine would be the same when seeing the performance. The meeting of two lines, a more concrete and a more abstract one, opened new frames for thinking. It made me read and see better.’

The publication can be ordered for 28€ (incl. tax, excl. shipping/ packaging costs 7.98€) via email.

Directory advise by Jantien Koenders. Performance documentation by Konstantin Guz (camera and editing assistance) and Jaap Sijben (sound). Book design by Lotte Lola SchröderA Sculpture Like You And Me has been made possible with the support of The Apple Amsterdam, the publication budget of the Mondriaan Fund and the 3-package-deal by AFK.

Do you own your body? Is your body an object? Or a collection of objects? Can you sculpt and sell your body parts? Do objects have any will of their own? Are you a sculpture?

Medical ethicist and general practitioner in training Sarah Boers and artist Sijben Rosa investigate the ambiguous nature of objects, and the interchangeable roles of persons and things, through a collaborative performance. Boers begins by talking about her research on organoids: a kind of miniature organ, derived in a laboratory from human stem cells. Sijben interrupts, manipulating the meaning of Boers’ words by instructing her to change position, both in relation to objects made by Sijben and to the audience present.

Suzan Drummen, visual artist and teacher: ‘I haven’t seen such a successful collaboration between an artist and a scientist before. The input of both seemed to exist autonomously next to each other, showing the full scope of their work, while it was clear that the one couldn’t exist without the other. A combination of the currently relevant text, the curious props, the repetition and the nearly self-evident dance of persons and objects created a curious experience. While at the same time, the atmosphere was remarkably relaxed.’

The project exists of two independent but complementary parts: a performance and a publication. The performance premiered at De Appel Amsterdam in June 2016, had a try-out at Lokaal 1B Amsterdam and was shown at Art Rotterdam and Linköping University Sweden. The publication was released in February 2017 within Prospects&Concepts at Art Rotterdam. The publication is a print of the texts and documentation of the objects used in the performance, plus a selection of photos from Sijben’s archive on which these objects were based.

Simone Hogendijk (artistic director Over het IJ Festival) about the publication: ‘I felt a form of involvement when reading the book, that I can imagine would be the same when seeing the performance. The meeting of two lines, a more concrete and a more abstract one, opened new frames for thinking. It made me read and see better.’

The publication can be ordered for 28€ (incl. tax, excl. shipping/ packaging costs 7.98€) via email.

Directory advise by Jantien Koenders. Performance documentation by Konstantin Guz (camera and editing assistance) and Jaap Sijben (sound). Book design by Lotte Lola SchröderA Sculpture Like You And Me has been made possible with the support of The Apple Amsterdam, the publication budget of the Mondriaan Fund and the 3-package-deal by AFK.

Place

2017
sculpture-performance, ongoing, 55x50x95cm
fibreglass, polyester, metal, wood
Over het IJ festival, the Belgian Senate, Ferry Festival Amsterdam, Billytown the Kitchen, V_2 Rotterdam

Place is a solid object, as well as an ongoing performance. It’s taking place, both literally and figuratively speaking. It proves to be quite an attention seeker, even though it’s usually very quiet. On the many trips that Place and Sijben have made together, the artist exhibits it just as much as it exhibits Sijben.

Place was inspired by the poem De Stoel by Dick Raaijmakers.

This work was part of the performance Mensding in collaboration with theatre-maker Margit Odems at Over het IJ festival, 14–23 July 2017. On the first of October that year, Place and Sijben gave a performative statement during the exhibition Superdemocracy in the senate of Belgium in Brussels, curated by BOZAR, M HKA and BPS22. On 2 November 2017, Place and Sijben performed on a ferry in the context of Museumnacht Amsterdam, in a preview of the Amsterdam Ferry Festival. In December 2018, Place was on show in Billytown the Kitchen in Den Haag as part of Between the Soup and the Potatoes, a duo show with David Bernstein. On 2 October 2020, Sijben and Place performed at V2_ in Rotterdam (NL), invited by Maud van den Beuken.

Place is a solid object, as well as an ongoing performance. It’s taking place, both literally and figuratively speaking. It proves to be quite an attention seeker, even though it’s usually very quiet. On the many trips that Place and Sijben have made together, the artist exhibits it just as much as it exhibits Sijben.

Place was inspired by the poem De Stoel by Dick Raaijmakers.

This work was part of the performance Mensding in collaboration with theatre-maker Margit Odems at Over het IJ festival, 14–23 July 2017. On the first of October that year, Place and Sijben gave a performative statement during the exhibition Superdemocracy in the senate of Belgium in Brussels, curated by BOZAR, M HKA and BPS22. On 2 November 2017, Place and Sijben performed on a ferry in the context of Museumnacht Amsterdam, in a preview of the Amsterdam Ferry Festival. In December 2018, Place was on show in Billytown the Kitchen in Den Haag as part of Between the Soup and the Potatoes, a duo show with David Bernstein. On 2 October 2020, Sijben and Place performed at V2_ in Rotterdam (NL), invited by Maud van den Beuken.

Zelf

2017-2018
8 sculpture performances
materials and dimensions variable
Corridor Project Space, Amsterdam

Each of the eight unique sculptures of Zelf is modelled to fit perfectly inside an existing, secondhand case. All of them are temporarily owned by eight different neighbours of the exhibition space. During the exhibition’s opening hours, visitors of the exhibition are invited to ring the neighbours’ doorbells and ask them to show their object. Inside the exhibition, a pile of flyers states the exact addresses, and a video is playing that shows a compilation of the neighbours’ first reactions to the sculptures and their expectations of the visits.

Hreinn Friðfinnsson (artist and one of the participating neighbours): “In a way it is very much nothing, it is just itself. So you are a little bit lost and then you are supposed to react! I think I’ll say as little as possible because I have no explanations. I think you will think about it afterwards: what was that now? I think it will come back to you, you know? (…) I like it, I like it very much.”

Zelf was created for ‘The future of what’, a duo exhibition together with artist Mariko Kuhawara at Corridor Project Space in Amsterdam.

Reviews: Kunstblijfteenraadsel, Parool

Between 2020–2021 I adapted this work to become an autonomous short film titled Zelf in een doosje


Each of the eight unique sculptures of Zelf is modelled to fit perfectly inside an existing, secondhand case. All of them are temporarily owned by eight different neighbours of the exhibition space. During the exhibition’s opening hours, visitors of the exhibition are invited to ring the neighbours’ doorbells and ask them to show their object. Inside the exhibition, a pile of flyers states the exact addresses, and a video is playing that shows a compilation of the neighbours’ first reactions to the sculptures and their expectations of the visits.

Hreinn Friðfinnsson (artist and one of the participating neighbours): “In a way it is very much nothing, it is just itself. So you are a little bit lost and then you are supposed to react! I think I’ll say as little as possible because I have no explanations. I think you will think about it afterwards: what was that now? I think it will come back to you, you know? (…) I like it, I like it very much.”

Zelf was created for ‘The future of what’, a duo exhibition together with artist Mariko Kuhawara at Corridor Project Space in Amsterdam.

Reviews: Kunstblijfteenraadsel, Parool

Between 2020–2021 I adapted this work to become an autonomous short film titled Zelf in een doosje